"Signaletics" by Emilia Phillips

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/3ADW-N682

Defense Date

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

English

First Advisor

David Wojahn

Abstract

Divided into four sections, the poems of Signaletics concern what is measurable and what is not measurable, the counted and the perceived. Using language from literature, religious texts, and outdated science manuals, especially Alphonse Bertillon’s late 19th-century criminal identification manual titled Signaletic Instructions including the theory and practice of Anthropometrical Identification, alongside autobiography, the poems reckon with identity, political responsibility, and empathy. Several sequences appear within the manuscript, including “Sublimation” and “Latent Print,” and the poems, as a whole, attempt a wide range of styles, balancing experimentation with form, narrative with fragmentation. As of the date of submission, twenty-four of the thirty-one poems have been published in nationally and internationally distributed literary journals, including AGNI, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

5-11-2012

Available for download on Wednesday, May 13, 2212

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